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I am here in Durban, South Africa to report on the just finished climate change negotiations. While an agreement was reached, negotiations were in doubt throughout the three final nights. The sticking point was Singapore.
Not Singapore specifically so much, but what Singapore represents. In 1992, Singapore was a rich city-state but not yet a developed one. Nearly 20 years later, Singapore is a financial titan and a global city.
So what should its obligations be to cut greenhouse gas emissions? Under old treaties, such as the Kyoto Protocol, Singapore has none. The essence of the package agreed to here in Durban is that, by 2020, Singapore will have some.
Of course, Singapore in total represents less than one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. But Singapore is joined by countries like South Korea—and even the world's largest greenhouse gas polluter, China—in this category of no obligations.
If the Durban deal brings climate change negotiations into the 21st century and if countries like Singapore begin reducing CO2 emissions after 2020, the world may not be quite as unpleasantly warm by the 22nd century.
—David Biello
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
Also see Climate Talks Consensus: All Countries Should Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions--In Future
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5 Comments
Add CommentIt's true we should protect our earth all together, but the problem is how much responsibility each nation should take. Hope the final agreement can be eventually reached.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe need to reward countries with low birth rates and condemn those with high. Kenya, somalia, Egypt, etc. should have binding legal agreements to send money to developed countries as legal penalties for not enforcing stricter birth control.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAverage number od chilsdren per woman:
Canada 1.1
somalia 6.8
Kenya 7.0
Bengaldesh 5.8
"If..., and if..." and if....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe need to make it clear that which country released the most pollution in the world and how much obligations it should take.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGeojellyroll: You are right the main driver of pollution, loss of biodiversity and climate change is our population.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHowever there are greater implications for our societies, especially democratic ones. Population pressure fractures societies creating under-classes, these are hounded out of their homelands, and ignorant western democracies accept them as refugees. Their birth-rates do not abate, they demand their culture (caused of their dsiplacement) is perfect, they demand we change our laws to accommodate them.
In short they change our habitat into their ignorant homelands. In democracies numbers rule supreme, we become the minority. If we don't convert to their ideas we are seen as fair targets for murder. In Malaysia, Indonesia, Lebanon and a myriad of such countries all minorities have been murdered out of existence, but do-gooders don't care about murdered peoples.